Cheetah reintroduction in India

Wildlife of India
Biodiversity Fauna Flora Lists Amphibians Ants Birds Butterflies Endangered animals Fish Mammals Molluscs Moths Odonates Reptiles Spiders Tiger beetles
Protected areas Biosphere reserves Communal forests Conservation areas Conservation and community reserves Elephant reserves National parks Private protected areas Ramsar Sites Reserved and protected forests Tiger reserves Wildlife sanctuaries
Conservation Projects Cheetah Dolphin Elephant Tiger Acts of Parliament Indian Forest Act 1927 Wildlife Protection Act 1972 Wildlife Protection Act 2002
Organisations National Ministry of Environment and Forests National Biodiversity Authority Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding Council of Forestry Research Indian Forest Service / Survey Institute of Forest Management Wildlife Institute Tiger Conservation Authority Zoo Authority International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) South Asian Zoo Association (SAZARC) World Animal Protection World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Related topics Environmental issues Fossil parks Forestry Natural history Tourism Lists Botanical gardens Ecoregions Zoological gardens Wildlife population Elephant Tiger Wildlife
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Cheetah reintroduction in India is a programme initiated by Government of India to re-introduce cheetahs to India after they became locally extinct in 1952. The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) whose range once included most of India were driven to extinction locally due to hunting of adult cheetahs and trapping of sub-adults.

Following the local extinction, various studies were done and multiple plans have been made to re-introduce cheetahs back into the wild in India. This included initial plan to re-introduce the asiatic cheetah from Iran in the 1970s, which was shelved due to political instability in Iran and the dwindling population of the species in the existent range. Since the late 1980s, further plans were made to introduce members of related sub-species Southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus). In 2022, as a part of Project Cheetah, cheetahs flown in from Namibia and South Africa were introduced to Kuno National Park in India.